ENGLAND and their fans were left frustrated last night after a washout in Warsaw that should never have happened.

Roy Hodgson’s side will now face the Poles today at 4pm after last night’s crucial World Cup qualifier was rained off in the National Stadium – which has a retractable ROOF that was not used.

Storms battered the city in the afternoon but Polish officials decided not to close the roof on the new £400million venue and from then on the whole night became a farce.

An hour before the scheduled kick-off at 8pm as England’s keepers Joe Hart, John Ruddy and Fraser Forster came out to warm up, the problems became apparent.

The ball would not run, water lapped over the top of the players’ boots and the message was swiftly delivered back down the tunnel to the England dressing room.

Out came boss Hodgson and his ­lieutenants Ray Lewington and Gary Neville, the manager shaking his head in disbelief as he looked at the state of the surface.

He called the keepers back into the warm and dry even as the Polish squad briefly tried to make a show of interest in proceedings.

As kick-off approached, with the roof still open, Italian ref Gianluca Rocchi wandered out to test the pitch and it was clear to all 55,000 fans in the stadium that the game couldn’t possibly go ahead.

Eventually word came through that another pitch inspection would be held at 8.45pm with FIFA then insisting everything within their power would be done to ensure the game went ahead.

But in a further farcical twist, nothing was done on the pitch to try to clear the water and the roof remained closed until the game was finally postponed, with the fans venting their fury vocally.

As yet, there has still been no explanation as to why a stadium with a retractable roof fell victim to a washout.

Hodgson said: “That’s something which I can’t answer. You will have to speak to the Polish authorities.

“I am rather hoping they will get it closed now and start to get some work on the pitch. The water is lying on the surface and will need a lot of attention if we are going to play.

“Playing tomorrow was the only decision that could be made. You can’t find dates at international level. The dates that are available are all taken up so you can’t just suddenly decide we’ll play it another time.

“What you have to do is to try to organise to get the game played as quickly as possible. We’ll have to go back to the hotel.

“We’re disappointed. We prepared well for this as no doubt the Poles did too, but now we’ve got to do it all over again and hopefully we’ll be just as prepared tomorrow.”

The Poles will also have to do a bit of preparation for the inevitable backlash from the travelling Three Lions supporters who were given no information as the farcical scenes unfolded in Warsaw.

England already knew they were going to spend an extra night in Warsaw, the kit-men packing up the gear and preparing to load it all back onto the team bus, even as the scheduled kick-off time came and went before the next Tannoy message, warning of a decision at 9.45 local time, was made.

Hodgson’s role – perhaps aside from spending another 24 hours mulling over whether he had made the right team selection, given that he has the right to change it – will have been bringing his players back down from the “zone” and then ensuring they are ready for combat this afternoon.

Former England boss Graham Taylor does not believe Hodgson’s men should suffer too much.

He said: “This is Monty Python stuff. Both sets of supporters are being treated really disgracefully. If I was a fan I’d certainly be booing.

“But if the game is played the following day, I don’t think the disruption would be great.

“If you are a real professional and you are simply going back to the hotel, waiting and playing again within 24 hours, I think you can cope and if they play it the next day you couldn’t use what has happened as an excuse for a bad result.

“It was clear that the pitch wasn’t fit. You have to be mindful of the players’ safety

“The people who won’t be happy are the clubs who’ll be getting their players back home later but, even then, the disruption might not be so bad if it’s an early kick-off.”

FIFA rules dictate that the game should be played within 24 hours if both sides agree. Hodgson and his nation’s fans will be hoping the Poles pay better attention to the weather forecast this afternoon.